


one more look

by lurkingspecter



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Manipulation, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 13:11:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14593740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lurkingspecter/pseuds/lurkingspecter
Summary: It started as subtle prodding. Their connection wasn’t strong enough for complete control, not yet.





	one more look

It started as subtle prodding. Their connection wasn’t strong enough for complete control, not yet. They needed him to reestablish the link.

A small voice in the back of his head told him that he should try drifting with the brain again. _What if they’re planning something?_ the voice said. _What if they try to break through again? They could destroy everything you love. You have to look. You have to make sure._

He thought of the voice as morbid curiosity, or paranoia. He ignored it.

These days, he and Hermann worked more closely than ever. It was rare that one of them was in the lab without the other.

This night, though, Hermann was across town, running an errand.

Newt was looking through the cabinet beneath his workstation for a tool when his hand brushed against the makeshift drift tech he had cobbled together. He pulled it out and ran his fingers over the metal, smiling. It was hard to believe that had all taken place only a couple months ago. His relationship with Hermann now was, well, it was different. Drifting had clarified a lot of things about their feelings.

He glanced at the brain in its tank. They had shoved it into the corner to make room for new experiments, but he thought about it often. In fact, these past few days his mind had returned to it over and over.

“No thanks,” he said, placing the headset on the counter. “I don’t wanna go down that rabbit hole again.”

But his hand stayed on the counter. He couldn’t seem to make himself move it.

The hair rose on the back of his neck. He got the distinct impression that several sets of eyes were behind him, watching.

When he looked back, though, no one was there.

He glanced at the clock on the wall above him. Hermann wouldn’t be back for another hour.

 _Hermann,_ the voice whispered. _Yes. How would you feel if they came back, and they killed him, and you could have stopped it?_

His fingers curled around the headset.

“That isn’t going to happen,” he said, voice wavering. His feet were already carrying him toward the tank.

_You don’t know that._

He pulled up a chair. Sat down. Put on the headset.

If he screamed, there was no one around to hear it.

*

Newt stood at the bathroom sink, pressing a paper towel to the blood that flowed freely from his nose. When it had stopped gushing he wet the towel, cleaned the blood from his lips and the tears from his eyes, and leaned forward, studying his face with keen, curious eyes. As if he had never seen it before. As if it was alien to him.

When he grinned, it looked more like a snarl.

Newt watched helplessly from behind his eyes as he gathered everything in the lab that belonged to him and left the PPDC, never to return.


End file.
